


Family

by SummersSixEcho



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Bonding, Family Pet, Fishing Trip, Gen, One Shot, Phic Phight, Phic phight 2020, Team Human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23942398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummersSixEcho/pseuds/SummersSixEcho
Summary: Jack didn't know why that green mutt had been stalking his family. Not only had its actions sent all their ghost theories to the trash, but now his weekend trip with his son was also at risk of ending badly. Especially once Danny decides to protect the ghost dog.[Phic Phight 2020 entry; prompt by neokid93]
Relationships: Cujo & Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton & Jack Fenton
Comments: 10
Kudos: 207





	Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neokid93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neokid93/gifts).



> Prompt by neokid93: Cujo was a working dog before his untimely end. Danny hasn't realized it yet but Cujo continues visiting him because he always wanted to be a family dog. He just wants to be loved.
> 
> Last entry for this great event! :) Had a lot of fun writing these new stories.

"Son, please step aside.”

Terrified blue eyes shifted between the barrel of the ecto-gun in the ghost hunter’s hands and the friendly, yet unwelcome, guest behind him. The creature turned its head slightly to the side, its red eyes trying to assess the whole situation and failing miserably in the task. It looked just as lost as the young teen in front of it. A different kind of lost, but lost nonetheless.

“C’mon, dad... don’t shoot him,” Danny pleaded, trying to keep the creature at ease.

Jack Fenton, despite his boisterous demeanor during spectral attacks, seemed more cautious this time, almost taken aback by Danny’s words and actions. He held the weapon more languidly but didn’t dare to holster it. While the man didn’t want to hurt his son by mistake, he didn’t trust any evil sack of ectoplasm near his family. Much less one that had proved to be persistent in haunting them.

For some reason, the little ecto-pest sitting innocently behind the youngest Fenton had been following his family for two months at least, using every chance it had to escape the Ghost Zone.  _ How _ had the green little creature managed to return so many times? The mystery still baffled the ghost-hunting parents. Jazz had theorized, much to their surprise considering her skepticism, that maybe the undead dog was looking for a family and somehow it had settled on staying with the Fentons. Why? That was an even greater mystery.

Both Jack and Maddie knew the deceivingly petit ghost well. According to Damon Gray, a close friend of theirs since the Ghost King’s invasion, the creature had haunted Axion Labs for quite a while. Whenever Phantom had managed to take him away, it kept returning to the company’s basement. One day, it suddenly stopped visiting. The ghost hunters had only met the menace after it began haunting other locations where it became hard to miss his oversized alter-ego, which was just as big as his desire to wreak havoc. After considering the dog’s past track record, they were left with their first puzzle: what had triggered its change in patterns? Why would a territorial creature (such as a ghost dog) ignore completely a previous recurrent haunt in favor of a new one?

The mutt’s newest fixation seemed to be more oriented towards regular dog-friendly locations, especially parks, where he was often seen with Phantom chasing a ball or a frisbee whenever there were fewer onlookers. This single fact had led them to believe Phantom was in reality some kind of owner or alpha figure for the dog, which could mean really bad news for everyone if it was following his every order. This also gave them a new enigma to uncover: could ghosts generate a close relationship of any kind with other ghosts? Could they have pets?

Shortly after that, their theories were demolished once again. Instead of the usual haunt at the park, the creature began to show up at their doorstep, as if it were guarding it on someone’s order. What if the ghost boy had sicced him on the Fentons? That led to the discovery of its Jekyll/Hyde nature, when they found the miniature puppy resting on the doormat peacefully, instead of its more intimidating version (the same monstrous version that liked to chase the post office worker, bless his soul). They caught it in a container more times than they could count and every time it came back. Without no real threat to the family, the parents stopped suspecting foul play. Phantom seemed forgotten, so this brought them yet another conundrum: could a ghost who had become attached to an entity switch their loyalty as easily? Were patterns and recurrence even a thing for ghosts? Could obsessions be really fulfilled somehow or were there subsets to fall back to?

The odd pest continued exhibiting other behaviors that made it seem even...  _ happy _ , if such thing was possible for either ghosts or dogs. For instance, it seemed to enjoy playfully chasing the GAV every time it left its parking space, at least until the vehicle reached the end of the block. Fortunately, it had only occurred while disguised as a puppy and harming no one in its path. The same had happened during its search for ecto-weenies inside the house, or the time they found it drinking from the downstairs toilet. Strangely, it hadn’t interacted with their kids, at least not while they were looking, which seemed odd considering how much Danny loved dogs and Jazz had been defending ghosts for a while. Jack wondered if they had somehow missed the memo where everyone, be it ghost or human, had renounced to their patterns and main interests.

The most recent piece of the puzzle came in the form of Danny, their youngest son, appearing out of nowhere as the newest defender of ghosts. Both Fenton males had decided on taking a fishing trip at Lake Eerie, a new tradition they decided to implement recently, effective every last Saturday of the month. For his utter surprise, he had found the ghostly puppy resting in the back of the vehicle. The man had done a double take once he opened the back door, hoping he was just imagining things. When he realized the mutt would ruin the long-awaited trip, he became extremely frustrated. Having to constantly deal with the otherworldly pet without a more lasting solution could tax anyone.

The result of his decision to pull out an ectogun had been a bewildered Danny standing in front of the creature, as if to protect it from the blast. This action confused Jack. The teen, as much as he seemed to be constantly haunted at school (if the teachers’ reports were any indication), had barely touched the topic of ghosts with his parents. In fact, both Jack and Maddie believed he was embarrassed by their work and would likely try to stay away from the family business once he left for college.

“Danny-boy, this ghost needs to go,” the man tried to reason with his son.

The boy, as stubborn as his father, didn’t move from his protective stance despite his panic. “Please, I know you’re getting tired of dealing with Cujo, but--”

“Hold on...” Jack interrupted, struck by the boy’s words and the heavy meaning behind them “Cujo? You gave the ghost a name?”

While the mutt seemed excited, wagging its green tail at the mention of what seemed to be his accepted name, the teen was another story. If anything, the question seemed to put the boy more on edge, his sweat almost visible under his fishing hat, though Jack wasn’t sure if the warm weather had anything to do with that. “Uh... it’s just a nickname. You know. After that old movie?”

The older man wanted to argue how the movie wasn’t that old, but he didn’t want to digress on the matter. The matter being how his son was so comfortable with a ghost that he even gave it a name. He wasn’t dense. He knew Danny wanted a puppy since he was a first grader. For days all he talked about was about all the wonderful things he would do with a dog at home. It was sweet and filled his heart with fuzzy feelings, but the patriarch couldn’t allow another pet so close to their dangerous equipment. Danny was too young to remember, but Jazz probably did recall the short life of Mr. Spook, the small beagle who wandered into the lab and didn’t make it out. (Huh... could that be why Jazzy had hated their work for so long?) 

He feared asking, but he wanted to get the question out of the way. “Do you...  _ want _ to keep this dog?”

Jack noticed a flash of surprise on the boy’s face, quickly replace by a feigned nonchalance. “Uh, whaaaat? Ha!  Pshh , no, what would give you  _ that _ idea?”

The man shot him a pointed look. “Danny, you never talk about ghosts,” the man began slowly.

“So?”

“You nicknamed this one,” Jack said, gesturing at  _ Cujo _ , who seemed relaxed as he laid down by the red sneakers firmly planted in front of him _. _

Danny spluttered as his cheeks gained a shade of red. “That’s not-- It’s just—Okay, fine. He's a good boy,” the teen finished, releasing the tension in his muscles at last. He then proceeded to sit next to the puppy to scratch its ears, something the undead pet seemed to enjoy as if it could  _ feel _ like any other living creature. Another thing to add to the long list of riddles this situation brought along.

His son. Was. Petting. A ghost!

The ghost hunter could only stare in complete perplexity, his weapon now idly resting by his side. How on Earth had his son managed not only to gain the ghost’s trust, but to also get over his aversion to anything related to spectral entities? How long had this been happening? Thousands of questions swarmed his thoughts, each clashing with the different contradictions and inconsistencies with the image of Danny he had built in his mind.

“A good boy?” Jack could only repeat as if he couldn’t process anything else to say.

Danny sighed, as if his father was the crazy one in the whole situation. “Yeah, have you ever tried giving him a direct order? Something a regular dog would do?”

The man blinked. “Now, why would I do that?”

His son shrugged and focused his attention on  _ Cujo _ . “You know, just to see if it could get him to stop. Or stay. Could be handy when dealing with a ghost who won’t stay put, right?”

Another one for the puzzle list. “Are you trying to tell me this dog is trained?” If so, what did it mean? Had the dog retained memories from when it was alive? Did his training surface as if on instinct? Was he trained  _ after _ he died? And if so, who would’ve spent so much time and effort doing so? Was that why Phantom was seen throwing frisbees and balls at the mutt?

Jack noticed there were certain questions Danny didn’t feel comfortable answering. The dog’s training seemed to belong in that category. “Uh, wasn’t that sort of what Mr. Gray said about his background?”

“How do you  _ know _ about that?” the man questioned. Sure, they had talked with Damon about all of it one time he went over to  Fentonworks to help them do a security check on their newest lock for the ghost portal. But Danny hadn’t even been home all day.

“I... uh... pay more attention than you give me credit for?” the teen replied.

“So,” Jack began as he sat on the back of the GAV, his feet firmly touching the ground as his added weight lowered the whole vehicle slightly. “You pay attention to ghosts... and get close enough to learn about them. What else have you found out while we’ve been busy, son?”

Blue eyes shifted nervously and then looked away from the older man. “I... It’s not like that. I just-- I’m not...  _ actively _ looking for it, y’know?”

Jack shook his head. “Danny, why didn’t you tell us? All this time we thought you  _ hated _ our job.”

The teen seemed to take an eternity to answer the question eating at Jack since the start of the conversation. “I don’t hate it exactly,” the boy began. “I just... I don’t like how you shoot first and never stop to ask a thing.”

“Are you saying we should be  _ kinder _ to ghosts?” the man asked even more surprised. 

His son was smart, despite the story told through his grades. He knew the risk ghosts presented. He lived it several times at school, from what he heard. But it made no sense how both Jazz and him had chosen a side of the discussion (Jack didn’t think there had to be any discussion to begin with, since all ghosts were evil), while constantly getting out of the way during an attack. So, if they barely interacted with specters of any kind and had more access than anyone to their research, how had they taken such a strong position in favor of ghosts? Had Phantom’s popularity anything to do with it? That ghost again... Jack was beginning to think that punk was somehow the root of all their woes.

“No, but maybe not jump to the same conclusion always. Maybe there’s more to ghosts than what you believe there is,” Danny replied in a more serious and collected tone. He was passionate about this, then. The certainty with which he spoke sent shivers down Jack’s spine. What could have happened to his son to gain that kind of resolve?

Jack opted to focus on the problem at hand. “But this ghost?” he said, motioning to the green ball of fur in Danny’s arms. “It’s dangerous and violent. We need to stay away from it.”

Danny frowned. “Don’t you get it? He’s been trying to find a home. What if Jazz is right? What if it’s looking for a family and thinks we’re it?”

“But Danny, that doesn’t make any sense. All ghosts belong to the Ghost Zone, so why would it look for a family elsewhere? Why humans? He’s been seen interacting playfully with other ghosts."

While the boy avoided his father’s gaze once more, he seemed suddenly struck by inspiration. “Look,” he began, “this dog is obviously hard to get rid of. Maybe he just likes being around you because you smell like ectoplasm, who knows? The thing is... if he’s going to keep coming back and we’re sort of stuck together, we might as well try to understand him. Maybe even get used to him.”

“Danny...”

The teen in question ignored his father’s warning tone and continued excitedly. “Think about it: we could all come together to figure out the right training for him. That’s family bonding right there,” he said, counting the first item on the invisible list with his finger. “He would fulfill his obsession, we’d have a pet who can’t die, you’d have plenty of ways to learn from him without a dissection, and we’ll all be happy since he doesn’t even eat or poop either. See? Everyone wins.”

Jack eyed him critically for a moment. He wasn’t the most observant father always, but this kind of excitement wasn’t uncharted territory with his son. This was always his strategy whenever he wanted something very badly. “How long have you been planning this conversation?”

Danny deflated and sighed, his eyes staring at his shoes. “Five weeks.”

Jack shook his head and turned to store his  ectogun back into the GAV. That was  definitely the Danny he knew, even if the added ghost knowledge was still an unfamiliar trait. “Alright, let’s reach a compromise, then.”

This sparked the boy’s interest, replacing the remaining tension from him entirely. “Okay? What kind of compromise?”

The man stood up and began taking out their fishing equipment, as if everything had gone back to their original plan and no spooky pet had dared to crash uninvited. “You’ll learn from us the appropriate handling of ghosts, ectoplasmic residue, Fenton tech, and anything that might be useful.”

Danny stared quizzically and smirked. “Don’t you usually say that part at the end of a deal?”

Jack ignored the boy’s comment and continued taking out the fishing rods. “I’ll ask of you to learn more than the basics from us,” he continued as he checked that nothing got  tangled . “In exchange of giving your plan a trial run while we’re in this weekend retreat.”

Despite wanting to sound as casual as possible, to avoid giving the boy any false hope, Danny’s eyes shone bright at the proposal. "Oh, you’re  _ so _ on,” he said, standing up with the dog,  _ Cujo _ __ (that would take some getting used to...), still in his arms. “You can start teaching me  here, so we don’t waste time. I already want to see Jazz’s face when she officially meets out new pet.”

This is where the bubble would probably break, Jack knew. There was something still nagging at him from the whole situation. The ghost boy’s initial involvement with the dog, Jazz’s constant protection of the teenage spook, Danny’s nervousness. There was probably more to this than he was letting on, but the father knew there was no point in convincing kids these days that a ghost who paraded as a superhero wasn’t necessarily to be trusted. If he wanted to get to the bottom of this, he needed to check back with Maddie, try to bounce back a few ideas together.

“Not so fast,” he said, which caused the teen to deflate slightly, probably expecting a killer blow to his excitement. “There’s one other condition for this to work. You keep it away from the ghost kid. He probably knows how to command it as well and I don’t want to risk our family’s safety. Understood?”

Against Jack’s predictions, Danny smirked. “Crystal. I’ll do the best I can, dad.” 

Another thing to add to the list of  mysteries, maybe?

At the end of the trip (and the enlightening trial), the two  Fentons arrived home with exciting news for the whole family. A family that now felt oddly complete with its new addition. Jack wasn’t worried about Maddie’s reaction. He knew once he gave her the new puzzles to include to their ever-growing list of enigmas, Maddie's curiosity would be too eager to fill the blanks. Perhaps their new pet could be a key to solve them in the end.


End file.
